hmmm, great question the trailer. I am newly diagnosed, oral surgeon did a lip biopsy for sjogerns, it was positive, you might try that way. Anyway, my sister has RA, we grew up in a trailer as well, however we think our great grandmother also had RA, so I'm not sure the trailer had much to do with it. She lived on a farm, I was in a park. Good luck with your search. Read the posts, some one else was asking about child hood sickness, I truly believe in the family history and stress, stress, stress, along with, possibly, hormones and childbirth

I have been diagnosed with SJS and my Rheumy thinks I have Lupus also. I was raised military, so we moved around my entire life. I had a picture perfect childhood and no one else knows of anyone in my family ever having an auto immune disease before me. My sister is having alot of the same issues now, that I have had over the years, but has not been diagnosed yet. Who knows what the rhyme or reason to all of it is.

I have SJS and also Nephrotic Syndrome. They diagnosed the kidney disease first. I also have a family history of autoimune diseases. Both my parents are ill, my dad with Lupus, and my mother with RA. My sister has Fibromyalgia and IBS. All the women in my family including myself have horrilbe hormonal imbalances, with out of control estrogen/progesterone production. It looks like my teenage daughter is headed in the same direction too. I often wondered if environmental factors had something to do with it, growing up in polluted downtown LA in the 70's. But I think the genetic link is probably to blame. I know my paternal grandmother (a Yaqui indian from Mexico) had autoimmune skin and digestive problems that could have been Lupus.

I too have multiple autoimmune diseases, SLE, Sjogrens, Ocular myasthenia gravis, and mctd I have Raynauds and Fibromyalgia also. I am finding this is more and more common, once you get a dx of one of them, others seem to follow.
I do not have any family history at all, I got it all, its very strange. I wish my doctors had some idea why I have so many.

According to the SSF, about 1/3 of Sjogren's patients have negative blood work. Diagnosis can be made on clinical symptoms alone unless you are in a study, and then the lip biopsy become important.

I have Hashimoto's (autoimmune thyroid disease,) Fibromyalgia, Restless Leg (arm & belly) syndrome, GERD, IBS, Interstitial cystitis, life-threatening allergies and Primary Sjogren's.

Dry eyes ran in my mother's side of the family, but she was never diagnosed with Sjogren's. She had several organ malfunctions that could have been Sjogren's related but she never had the testing done.

My sister suffers from Dry Eye Syndrome and uses Restasis. One rheumy said she has Sjogren's and the second one said Mixed Connective Tissue Disease. I've begged her to see someone else, but her daughter is getting married next month so she is so busy she doesn't know if she is coming or going. All of us have torn our corneas just waking up in the morning long before I knew I had Sjogren's.

One of my mother's aunts had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome after they ruled out Lupus and Sjogren's.

A cousin on my dad's side has autoimmune Primary Billiary Cirrosis, autoimmune attack of the draining system in the liver. She did OK for 21 years, but now has been told there is nothing else that can be done for her.

My mother's only sister died from kidney failure that may have been related to autoimmune dysfunction, but again no testing was ever done.

I have secondary Sjogren's and due to mixed connective tissue disease. My father died of systemic scleroderma. I suspect his mother has lupus, but she's never been diagnosed that I know of.

Hi, I just joined the SS support group and saw your post and thought I'd say something :)

I also don't have a 100% diagnosis of Sjogren's but do suffer from dry eyes and dry mouth along and my doctor is fairly certain that I have a slight case of Sjogrne's. I also have other auto-immune diseases. I have a positive ANA and a borderline positive anti cardiolipin. The anti cardiolipin is an antibody that causes people to be prone to blood clots. When I was 16 I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and when I was 18 I got a blood clot. Because of the UC I was not able to go on blood thinners.

My Grandma on my Mom's side has Lupus and IBS and my Grandma on my Dad's side has Celiac Disease. I also believe that there is some kind of link genetically. I hope one day they find out what it is! My Dad just started seeing a doctor and said that he was able to help him with some problems that he's had for years. The doctor wants to meet me because he finds it really weird that I have all of these problems. If anything comes out of that meeting, I'll share it :)